WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says he is still mulling whether to stay on another four years with a second Obama term — a job that sources say he can keep if he wants it.

Heading Interior means Salazar is the custodian of managing the more than 500 million acres of the nation's public lands and another 1.7 billion acres offshore — a job rife with politics from environmentalists, energy companies and members of Congress in districts rich with natural resources.

Salazar is said to be weighing the job — it's work he very much enjoys — against the tug of his extended family in Colorado. Heading a federal agency means long hours, a life in Washington and days upon days of travel.

He is expected to make an announcement in the coming months. According to sources close to the department, his schedule has plans inked on the calendar through February.

"It is perhaps the most wonderful job of any Cabinet position in the United States," he said to the Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas last week. "I would not say that about Agriculture or Housing and Urban Development or Transportation. ... This is the best job."

That said, the past four years haven't been exactly easy for Salazar.

He was at the helm during the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Eleven men died when the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon well exploded April 20, 2010. After it sank two days later, about 53,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico every day for nearly three months.

Salazar received criticism from both sides after the disaster.

Environmentalists — and the White House — said he moved lethargically in figuring out what went wrong. House Republicans on Capitol Hill lambasted him for his moratorium on new offshore drilling leases, which they say crippled domestic energy production.

The rebukes from the Hill didn't stop with Deepwater. House Republicans have continued to hammer him on his agency's handling of oil and gas leasing on federal lands — including in Colorado.

"I continue to be surprised that as secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar has pushed regulations that destroy Colorado jobs and imperil Colorado water law," said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, who is on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "If Ken Salazar ever decides to come back to Colorado, he'll have a lot of questions to answer about some of the decisions he's made in Washington."

But Salazar has earned friends in the West on both sides of the aisle in the past year after signing a historic water-sharing treaty with Mexico. The agreement sets in place a set of cooperative measures for Colorado River management for the next five years.

Those working in water politics out west widely applaud the agreement as long-sought and badly needed.

Cory Gardner, winner of the U.S Representative for Colorado's 4th Congressional District, on stage for his victory speech at the Colorado GOP watch party at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Tuesday evening. The Denver Post/ Andy Cross (THE DENVER POST | ANDY CROSS)

"I think the right person was in the job at exactly the right time," Patricia Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said of Salazar. "I am not going to say that previous secretaries didn't reach out to Mexico, because they did. They may not have been willing to roll up their sleeves and push as hard. So I think we were fortunate that he was secretary."

Not all kids who play baseball are uniformed with fancy script across their chests, traveling to $1,000 instructional camps and drilled how to properly hit the cut-off man. Some kids just play to play.